Rice Terraces in San Carlos City and Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental, Philippines

The most famous rice terraces in the Philippines happen to be the ones in Banaue, Ifugao Province of the Cordillera Autonomous Region in the northern Philippine island of Luzon. Unknown to many, there are other places in the Philippines where one can find rice terraces. In the Visayas, some of these rice terraces are found in places such as the town of Argao in Cebu and in Negros Occidental province in the Philippines' newest region. In the province of Negros Occidental, the rice terraces can be seen from the main road in the mountain town of Don Salvador Benedicto and the mountain barangays of San Carlos City.

Every time I traveled to and from Bacolod City via San Carlos City and Don Salvador Benedicto in the past, I have always marveled at the sight of rice terraces in the town's landscape dominated by farms in a rolling terrain or a pine tree-lined road that remind one of Baguio City. I never really had the chance to take photographs as commuter buses rarely stop where these spectacles are.

Rice terraces in Negros Occidental

On a recent visit to Negros Occidental, I finally had the chance to take photographs as a friend offered to drive us from Bacolod City to San Carlos City. He obliged when we asked for a stopover so we could take photos of Negros Occidental's version of the rice terraces. How happy I was to finally get that chance. These rice terraces are not as imposing and majestic as the ones in Banaue, Ifugao but just the same, these were probably created to make the sloping terrain more suitable to farming.